3 Now the serpent was more crafty than any wild animal which Adonai, God, had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You are not to eat from any tree in the garden’?” ² The woman answered the serpent, “We may eat from the fruit of the trees of the garden, ³ but about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden God said, ‘You are neither to eat from it nor touch it, or you will die.’” ⁴ The serpent said to the woman, “It is not true that you will surely die; ⁵ because God knows that on the day you eat from it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” ⁶ When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it had a pleasing appearance and that the tree was desirable for making one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her; and he ate. ⁷ Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized that they were naked. So they sewed fig leaves together to make themselves loincloths.

⁸ They heard the voice of Adonai, God, walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, so the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Adonai, God, among the trees in the garden. ⁹ Adonai, God, called to the man, “Where are you?” ¹⁰ He answered, “I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid myself.” ¹¹ He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree from which I ordered you not to eat?” ¹² The man replied, “The woman you gave to be with me — she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate.” ¹³ Adonai, God, said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman answered, “The serpent tricked me, so I ate.”

¹⁴ Adonai, God, said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all livestock and wild animals. You will crawl on your belly and eat dust as long as you live. ¹⁵ I will put animosity between you and the woman, and between your descendant and her descendant; he will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel.”

¹⁶ To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase your pain in childbirth. You will bring forth children in pain. Your desire will be toward your husband, but he will rule over you.”

¹⁷ To Adam he said, “Because you listened to what your wife said and ate from the tree about which I gave you the order, ‘You are not to eat from it,’ the ground is cursed on your account; you will work hard to eat from it as long as you live. ¹⁸ It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat field plants. ¹⁹ You will eat bread by the sweat of your forehead till you return to the ground — for you were taken out of it: you are dust, and you will return to dust.”

²⁰ The man called his wife Havah [life], because she was the mother of all living.

²¹ Adonai, God, made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.

(A: v, S: iv) ²² Adonai, God, said, “See, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil. Now, to prevent his putting out his hand and taking also from the tree of life, eating, and living forever — ” ²³ therefore Adonai, God, sent him out of the garden of ‘Eden to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. ²⁴ So he drove the man out, and he placed at the east of the garden of ‘Eden the k’ruvim and a flaming sword which turned in every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.

3 These were the sons born to David in Hevron: the firstborn was Amnon, whose mother was Achino‘am from Yizre‘el; the second, Dani’el, whose mother was Avigayil from Karmel; ² the third, Avshalom, the son of Ma‘akhah the daughter of Talmai king of G’shur; the fourth, Adoniyah the son of Haggit; ³ the fifth, Sh’fatyah, whose mother was Avital; and the sixth, Yitre‘am, whose mother was his wife ‘Eglah. ⁴ Six were born to David in Hevron. He ruled there seven years and six months; then he ruled in Yerushalayim thirty-three years.

⁵ These were born to him in Yerushalayim: Shim‘a, Shovav, Natan, Shlomo, four whose mother was Bat-Shua the daughter of ‘Ammi’el; ⁶ and nine others — Yivchar, Elishama, Elifelet, ⁷ Nogah, Nefeg, Yafia, ⁸ Elishama, Elyada and Elifelet. ⁹ All these were sons of David, apart from the sons of the concubines; Tamar was their sister.

¹⁰ Shlomo’s son was Rechav‘am, his son Aviyah, his son Asa, his son Y’hoshafat, ¹¹ his son Yoram, his son Achazyah, his son Yo’ash, ¹² his son Amatzyah, his son ‘Azaryah, his son Yotam, ¹³ his son Achaz, his son Hizkiyahu, his son M’nasheh, ¹⁴ his son Amon and his son Yoshiyahu. ¹⁵ The sons of Yoshiyahu: Yochanan the firstborn, Y’hoyakim the second, Tzedekyah the third, and Shalum the fourth. ¹⁶ The sons of Y’hoyakim: Y’khonyah his son, and Tzedekyah his son. ¹⁷ The sons of Y’khonyah, also called Asir: Sh’alti’el his son; ¹⁸ also Malkiram, P’dayah, Shen’atzar, Y’kamyah, Hoshama and N’davyah. ¹⁹ The sons of P’dayah: Z’rubavel and Shim‘i. The children of Z’rubavel: Meshulam, Hananyah and Shlomit their sister; ²⁰ also Hashuvah, Ohel, Berekhyah, Hasadyah and Yushav-Hesed — five. ²¹ The sons of Hananyah: P’latyah and Yesha‘yah. His son was Refayah. His son was Arnan. His son was ‘Ovadyah. And his son was Sh’khanyah. ²² The sons of Sh’khanyah: Sh’ma‘yah and the sons of Sh’ma‘yah — Hatush, Yig’al, Bariach, Ne‘aryah and Shafat — six. ²³ The sons of Ne‘aryah: Elyo‘einai, Hizkiyah and ‘Azrikam — three. ²⁴ The sons of Elyo‘einai: Hodavyahu, Elyashiv, P’layah, ‘Akuv, Yochanan, D’layah and ‘Anani — seven.

⁵⁷ The time arrived for Elisheva to have her baby, and she gave birth to a son. ⁵⁸ Her neighbors and relatives heard how good Adonai had been to her, and they rejoiced with her.

⁵⁹ On the eighth day, they came to do the child’s b’rit-milah. They were about to name him Z’kharyah, after his father, ⁶⁰ when his mother spoke up and said, “No, he is to be called Yochanan.” ⁶¹ They said to her, “None of your relatives has that name,” ⁶² and they made signs to his father to find out what he wanted him called. ⁶³ He motioned for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s surprise he wrote, “His name is Yochanan.” ⁶⁴ At that moment, his power of speech returned, and his first words were a b’rakhah to God. ⁶⁵ All their neighbors were awestruck; and throughout the hill country of Y’hudah, people talked about all these things. ⁶⁶ Everyone who heard of them said to himself, “What is this child going to be?” For clearly the hand of Adonai was with him.

⁶⁷ His father Z’kharyah was filled with the Ruach HaKodesh and spoke this prophecy:

⁸⁰ The child grew and became strong in spirit, and he lived in the wilderness until the time came for him to appear in public to Isra’el.